Indianapolis Times, Volume 42, Number 184, Indianapolis, Marion County, 11 December 1930 — Page 4

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The Public’s Rights When Robert Feustel, Indiana representative of the Insull interests, denied that his holding company takes any fees, commissions or grafts from subsidiary companies, he inferentially indicted every other holding company in control of Indiana utilities. The Insull interests, from this statement, alone are innocent. For huge fees are taken by holding companies for telephone service and the people pay. Huge levies are made by the holding company for the local power and light concern, and the people pay in heavy rates and cost. More important than his explanation of the proposed car franchise was this indictment by inference of other utility concerns. The explanation by Mr. Feustel was such as to suggest that the public has many rights and that attention should be directed to the value of eleven millions of dollars on which the people will pay dividends at 8 per cent through all time to come. Quite frankly, he admitted that this valuation was much higher than the system would bring under foreclosure of the mortgages at the end of the receivership. He said it was a “fair” valuation as a service cost. The one element of value in the system, outside its salvage possibilities, is the right to use the people’s streets. The streets, presumably, belong to the people. That makes possible the “service” value of the decrepit lines. If the people already own these streets, why should they pay private owners for the value they put into the street car lines? The proposed franchise is a cold business deal on the part of the Insull interests and the owners of bonds on the system. It should be cold business in Behalf of the people. If the lines are to be sold, the people should have the benefit of the lowest possible price. Private ownership and operation has failed. It is possible that the cities of the future will demand a different system of transportation. Both these facts suggest that the one way to safeguard the public and the future is public ownership of all transportation lines. That would insure a real “service at cost.”

World Dynamite Eventually the senate will ratify the world court protocols submitted to it by President Hoover in an able message Wednesday, but eventual action is not enough. Prompt action is needed. Anything we can do to emphasize international co-operation in this time of war clouds is vital. If the senate does not think there is an emergency, let it consider what Just has happened at Geneva. After years of talk and subterfuge, the preparatory disarmament commission at Geneva has closed up shop with what amounts almost to bankruptcy. There is to be an international disarmament conference—perhaps in 1932—but that it will result in disarmament is highly Improbable. Describing the net result of the long labors of the preparatory commission, our chief representative, Ambassador Gibson, said at the closing session: "This draft falls far short of our hopes and expectations. It fails to contain many factors in which we always have believed and which, in our opinion, would lead to a real reduction of armaments. "What we have achieved does not hold out the promise of bringing about that immediate reduction of armaments we would like to see.” He went on to take some comfort in the fact that “we at least can foresee a stabilization of armaments.” In a world which has sworn fidelity to disarmament with one hand and proceeded to increase armaments with the other hand—which is precisely what all the great nations have been doing, including the United States—perhaps there might be some gain in merely "stabilizing” armaments at the present high level. Such gain, however, would be more theoretic than real. For the dynamite in this armament dispute is that the allied nations are armed to the teeth while Germany virtually is disarmed. Thus stabilization would mean perpetuating the present inequality in violation of the Versailles treaty. It often, too, is forgotten that the allies, in disarming Germany, pledged themselves to follow suit. The rapid growth of the German Fascist and militarist parties in the last year reflects the natural but dangerous impatience of the German people over the allies’ failure to carry out their disarmament pledge. Unless general arms reduction is achieved soon it is certain that the German nation will insist on increasing German armaments. That is why the usually optimistic statements of the statesmen at Geneva now are changed to cries of alarm. Speaking of the present world emergency, the Greek delegate declared that disarmament agreement "is imperatively necessary”: the Dutch chairman of the commission said, "No more time is to be lost. Failure would be disaster”; the German delegate warned of "grave dangers,” and Gibson said that public opinion must not be lulled into a "false sense of confidence." Faced with this explosive world situation, the United States during the next year has the power to lead in international co-operation for peace, without which the armament race will probably result in war. If the United States will Join the world court promptly, keep down its own armament expenditures, call off its tariff war against other nations, come forward with a consultation treaty and otherwise put teeth into the now hopeless Kellogg pact outlawing war, we may prevent the international explosion. This is the world challenge to the United States government. The Other Side Against the shortsightedness of President Hoover and Secretary of Agriculture Hyde in slowing up congressional unemployment relief with charges of “politics’* must be balanced the forward steps of AttorneyGeneral Mitchell and Secretary of Labor Doak. Mitchell has started an inquiry on the disparity be-

The Indianapolis Times (A PCRIPPS-HOWARO NKWSPAPKR) Owned and pobllibed dally (except Sunday) by Tbe Indlanapolla Times Publishing Cos., 214-220 Weat Maryland Street. Indianapolis, Ind. Price In Marlon County, 2 centa a copy; elsewhere, 3 cent*—delivered by carrier. 12 eenta a week. BOYD OURLEY. ROY W. HOWARD. PRANK O. MORRISON. Editor President Business Manager THONE— Riley 6551 ' THURSDAY. DSC. 11. I**o. Member • t United Press, Rcrlpps-Howard Newspaper Alliance. Newapaper Enterprise Association. Newspaper Information Service and Audit Bureau of Circulationa. “Give Light and the People Will Find Their Own Way.”

tween the price* of wheat and bread. Members of the federal farm board charge that only 39 cents of the consumer’s dollar goes to the farmers and millers. Doak has made a good beginning in his new job at the labor department by coming out, according to press reports, for the five-day working week. He also announces he will move at once for settlement of the big Danville (Va.) textile strike. Mitchell and Doak can count on public support in these matters. Bobby Jones and Civil Liberties The press announces that Bobby Jones has retired from golf, that he will be shot In some golf movies at a fabulous figure, and that he then will assume the practice of law in dead earnest. We wish Bobby luck In the career of a Jurist, but if evidence at hand is prophetic of the future, he is not going to seek to emulate Clarence Darrow and lend the weight of his prestige to the cause of justice for the underdog. Several Communists, among them two girls of far more than average pulchritude, are facing trial for their lives in Bobby’s home town. They may be punished with death under an obsolete statute which the prosecuting attorney has revived. The prosecutor publicly and frequently has announced that he means what he says and intends to hang their scalps very literally about his belt. Certain lovers of the old Jeffersonian tradition of free speech in Atlanta, while abhorring Communist dogmas, believed that these radicals had a right to be heard. They doubted if they should be treated as murderers and traitors. Therefore they protested vigorously against the antics of the Atlanta Black Shirts and demanded Justice for the accused Communists. One prominent Atlanta woman had a happy thought. Why not go to Bobby Jones, who Is an attorney in Atlanta between golf tournaments? The golf king might obtain a fair hearing for these Reds, even in Atlanta. So she sought Bobby’s office. She obtained an audience with the wizard of the green and asked him to lend his name to the defense cause. Bobby informed her curtly that he had no interest in such matters, and implied decisively that he would be pleased greatly if the space she was occupying in his office should be vacated expeditiously. So she left within two minutes after she had been admitted, full of assurance that girls of unorthodox economic views would go to the gallows as far as Bobby was concerned. The genius of the links Ynay rise to heights of Juristic grandeur surpassing Judge Parker of recent and transient fame, but it appears certain that he is no Clarence Darrow in the making—or even a second Senator Hardwick, who had nerve enough to defend the martyrs of Gastonia.

Governor Harry Leslie says that 85 per cent of the people have the minds of 15-year-old children in government affairs. Now let any one deny that this state has failed to give its people a truly representative government. > ■ The health commissioner of Massachusetts declares that rheumatism is the outstanding chronic problem in the state. Shows you what the dampness of a wet state can do to some joints. Passaic, N. J., has opened a street paved with rubber. Just to be able to say, perhaps, that it stretches for miles. It was only a fitting climax that Notre Dame should beat the U. S. C. after rambling over the U. S. A. A Texas woman, 75, a news item says, recently married a man named J. J. Ice, 83. And did she have to take her pick? A Detroit man, suing his wife for divorce, says she stabbed him with a pen. But maybe that was her quaint way of getting across a point. “Frog Legs Newest Canadian Industry,” says a headline. They're interested in hops of one kind or another, it seems.

REASON

WE are keen to read the book which Colonel House got all ready to publish, but which has temporarily been squashed by the objections of Italy, France and Great Britain. Naturally this only makes one more anxious to peruse the Colonel’s pages. m m We can’t for the life of us see why these countries at this late day should object to anybody’s telling the innermost secrets of the World war and the treaty of Versailles as they appear to own senses, for as we re* call, every actor in that drama, with the possible exception of Colonel House has peddled his secrets. m m m The average man, gifted with an ordinary sense of decency, never has been able to understand why grpat statesmen, piloting great power, should be immune from the restraints of common honor which seal the lips of individuals, respecting transactions entered into in confidence. m m m BUT they have been Immune, and since the closing of the European slaughter house in 1918 the giants of all allied nations have rushed into print at so much a word, telling hidden truths, often to the lasting detriment of their own countries. u m m So, we should say, Colonel House should be permitted to go to press with his reminiscences, and if he will do so we will promise him an order for the book. Now that it’s forbidden, we want It. m m m Ambassador Page told his side of it; Lloyd George has told his, and so has Churchill, and over in France Foch lambasted Clemenceau and everybody else and Clemenceau lambasted Foch and everybody else. Why, at this late hour, turn thumbs down upon the meek and lowly Colonel House? mum WHAT they've tried to do to House isn’t the worst of It. General Pershing soon is to go booming to press with the story of the big blowoff as It appeared to him, and doubtless he will have certain bang-curling references to his former brothers-in-arms, as his brothers-in-a:ms have had, respecting him. m m m • vWho knows but what these European birds may next try to put a quietus or something of that general nature on the general’s literary aspirations. Why let Europe write ail the books and get all the gravy? Go in, Americans—the waters’ fine!

Y FREDERICK LANDIS

THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES

M. E. Tracy SAYS:

The Efforts to Put Business Back on Its Feet by Whistling Happy Tunes Is Too Thin to Fool Any One. 'T'HE farce Just concluded by Soviet Russia and the poison fog mystery which the queen of Belgium wants science to explain are tragically symbolical of the times. On every hand men are trying to steer . le gigantic machines of modem civilization or solve its complicated problems with ballyhoo. In tills country the big Idea Is to cure depression by patting each other on the back and proclaiming that everything soon will be all right. The widespread effort to put business back on its feet by mouthing agreeable platitudes and whistling happy tunes is too obvious and too thin to fool even those who are making it. Admittedly the American people are in a discouraged frame of mind, but it was not caused by putting words to music, nor can it be corrected that way. n m Luncheon Club Bunk A FEW days after the November election, seven distinguished Democrats, including Senator Robinson, minority leader of the upper house, announced they proposed that the two parties get together on a program of relief work. Majority Leader Watson accepted the idea on behalf of the Republicans, and just before congress assembled, President Hoover held a conference with Robinson. Then President Hoover outlined a program which was so palpably loose, vague, and inadequate as to find little favor outside those professional politicians who feel bound to dance the party jig regardless. When certain Democrats refused to Join the chorus, as they hardly could do without sacrificing their self-respedt, the President denounced them for “playing politics.” And that’s where the dream of meeting a great emergency with noon-day luncheon club psychology has landed.

mum Good May Develop EVEN though unwise and uncalled for, as many think, the President’s broadside may do more good than harm. At all events, he has brushed a cheap smoke screen aside and cleared the stage for action. Possibility that the President’s program may be delayed is of less consequence than the probability that it will be enlarged until it promises something of real value, which it scarcely did in its original form. In the first place, $100,000,000 or even $150,000,000 is not a drop in the bucket, considering what this country is up against. In the second place, such work as the federal government is prepared to conduct by itself won’t mean much by way of immediate relief to the millions of unemployed. m m m Work Is Great Need MANY economists doubt the wisdom of a huge federal appropriation for federal work at this time, because plans are lacking for its proper expenditure, and they are probably right. But how about the idea of a huge federal appropriation to be loaned to states, counties or cities that are ready to go ahead, but lack the cash? What our unemployed need is not only work, but work somewhere near home. It should be apparent to anyone that local improvements are the best kind to encourage. Alpo, it should be apparent that because of the confused financial situation and the prevalent timidity, it has become rather difficult to raise money on a local basis. To a layman, the most effective part for the federal government to play wolud seem to be that of banker, rather than construction engineer. Suppose congress were to make several hundreds of millions of dollars available for loans to states, counties and cities. Suppose it were to borrow the money at 3*6 or 4 per cent, which it easily could do, and charge them 4*6 or 5. Wouldn’t that automatically shift the debt burden and make a rise in the income tax unnecessary? At the same time, wouldn’t it enable us to start local improvements all over the country improvements that we intend to make anyway and that could be had at some saving right now? We loaned European countries billions to help them buy arms. Why not millions to help our own folks provide work?

This Is Golden Rule Week; Aid Those in Need

BY CHARLES STELZLE, Os the Golden Rule Foundation W r HEN your lodge, your church, your card club, your social organization, or any other society of which you are a member holds its meeting this week, devote a few minutes to disc.ussion of the unemployment problem, with special reference to the needs of your fellowmembers. Try to account for every person connected with your organization. Find out whether they have jobs, and, if not, whether they are in need of any kind, keeping in mind the piedge of helpfulness by which you mutually are obligated. If it is thought advisable, appoint some wise person to call on the needy "brother” or "sister” discovered through this roll call, and let him see to it that necessary relief is furnished. Remember that to some people being out cf a job is worse than the fear of going to hell, worse than losing their social position, and worse than many other experiences regarded as personal calamities. And remember, too, that being out of a job just now is the common lot of hosts of perfectly fine people. It isn’t the condition merely of the careless and lazy. This is Golden Rule Week. If you were out of a job, what would you have some other man do for you?

Insurance Men Probe Family History

This is the second of four srtlelei hr Dr. Flshbeln on health requirements in insurance examinations. BY DR. MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor, Journal of the American Medical Association and of Hyjrela, the Health Maraxine. 'T'HE Insurance examiner always -®- inquires into the family history of the person who wants life insurance. It has been recognized that there may be a tendency to diseases of the heart or of the arteries ir. families. In cases in which the parents and possibly the brothers and sisters have died under the age of 85 with a history of heart failure, angina pectoris, brain hemorrhage or Bright’s disease, it is customary with many leading insurance companies to add five years to the age of the person in estimating the premium. There are families whose histories

IT SEEMS TO ME by

MANY of the precise details of the economic structure of Utopia necessarily must remain a little vague, but of three changes I am sure. In that perfect state the present system in regard to soda checks, theater tickets, and Pullman reservations will not prevail. I don’t see how even the most humble of efficiency engineers can approach a soda counter without suffering from apoplexy. At a rough estimate something more than $50,000,000 is lost every year by the waste motion involved in the check system. The purchaser approaches the dispensing clerk and asks for a frosted chocolate. The clerk tells him to get a check from the cashier, whose desk is at the far end of the room. If the cashier happens to know the current quotation on frosted chocolate not more than fifteen or twenty yards of unnecessary travel is placed upon the consumer. Often she is not informed, which means two more trips. m m m Frosted Chocolate THEN there is the delay in time. A few enterprising clerks begin on the order as soon as the prospect appears at the fountain, but this is a system too reckless for most men in the business. Obviously the customer may change his mind or drop dead on his way from the counter to the cashier and back. In that case a frosted chocolate would be thrown on the market. Generally it is held that the first bid is only in the nature of a preliminary negotiation and that actual transfer of the drink shall not even be contemplated until the buyer actually has the legal tender of that particular store in his hand and is physically present to execute the deal. If a sandwich is desired as well as a drink the process is even more elaborate. At Mr. Blank’s store, for instance, these are separate accounts. Here the buyer not only must learn from the soda clerk the total to which he must obligate himself, but also the precise division between food and drink. And he must remember the fractions all the way to the cashier’s window, where he will receive a pink and white slip. It does not seem reasonable to believe that all this is done out of sheer malice. It must be convenient for somebody. But for whom? nun Tears of Managers WHEN theatrical managers moan about the radio or the weather or backgammon I usually am able to restrain my tears. It seems to me that one of the reasons why the populace does not fall over Itself to buy tickets lies in the fact that the box office, in spite of recent reforms, still remains a false front. All too often the box office is the worst of all possible places at which to buy tickets. If the show is a success, most of the best seats are elsewhere. If, on the other hand, trade is not so brisk, tickets may be obtained more cheaply at one of the cut rate agencies. In other words, the New York theaters do not conduct a one-price

Who Said \Hard TimesV

•DAILY HEALTH SERVICE

indicate that the members break down at an early age. If the person is a member of such a family and has, at the time of his application, high blood pressure and thickening of the arteries, he is likely to be a bad risk for the company. In estimating the possibilities in cases of application for life insurance, it is necessary because of the complex character of modem life to look particularly into the occupation of the applicant. If man’s heart is slightly impaired, he is a better risk, provided he does not have to work hard for a living than if he is engaged in farming, lumbering or some similar occupation. It is known that bankers, brokers and speculators are liable to great strain. The man in such occupation with high blood pressure would not be considered as good a risk as a

business. They operate under the haggle system, and, unfortunately, the managers have been slow to admit it. To be sure, there is much to be said against a standardized price. The value of tickets fluctuates. When a manager can fill his or-

rt -I ■tptlt 4-t-

ROBERT KOCH’S BIRTH Dec. 11 ON Dec. 11, 1843, Robert Koch, a famous German physician and discoverer of the tuberculosis germ, was bom at Klausthal, Prussia. He was nearly 30 when he began the researches in bacteriology upon which his fame chiefly rests. While a member of the imperial board of health in Berlin, he Invented new appliances for microscopic work and new ways of staining specimens which proved of inestimable value to medical science. Soon after he had isolated the tuberculosis germ, Koch was made chief of the German commission which was sent to Egypt and India to investigate cholera. Asa result, he discovered in 1883 the cholera germ and in the same year published a method of inoculation to prevent anthrax. In 1905 he was commissioned by the German government to investigate West African "sleeping sickness,” and in the same year was awarded the Nobel prize for medicine. He died in 1910.

People’s Voice

Editor Times—Times being bad, “just Uke war times,” we must call on the' women to help. Take off your overalls and dress like women, give the men back their overalls. Bring back that good old home and mother. Women who have husbands working should* give up their jobs to fathers of three and four who really need the jobs. A fireman’s wife in Indianapolis said, "What man would do the work I do for sls a week?” If the women would go back where they belong, a man would be paid properly to do that job. Go back to your homes, you women, make your husband and children a home, not just a boarding house or a sleeping place. Live on whatever your husband makes, before it is too late. We don’t want charity or soup houses. We want honest toil, men to come home tired at evening, to rest and know an honest day’s work Is done. That is happiness, and love. Please do something to stop this endless walking of honest men, and give them jobs to have their shoes half-soled and feed their families. MRS. MARY RITCHIE. .Editor Times: As we have several farmers in the legislature now, I think we should have a law to prohibit the killing of quail, as they are of .great benefit to the farmer. Other states have such a law; why not Indiana? W. D. B.

farmer or lumber man of the same age with the same blood pressure. A man with high blood pressure who is alcoholic is not as good a risk as one with high blood pressure who does not drink. There is also the question of the dangers of oversmoking In people with disturbances of the heart. It is known that excessive Indulgence in tobacco may lead to speeding up of the heart, but the influence of tobacco on the blood pressure is uncertain. Obviously, a man past middle life whose heart has been weak is not a good risk if he is likely to indulge in excessive athletics. The average amateur athlete' will not overdo, but Insurance companies frequently have paid off large policies because some middleaged men suddenly have died following a game of ping pong undertaken after a large dinner.

Ideals and onlnlons expressed In this column are those of one of America’s most Interesting writers and are presented withoat rarard to their arreement or disajrreeaent with the editorial attitude of this naper.—The Editor.

chestra at $lO a seat it is asking a good deal to expect him to sell at $5.50 a ticket. | And whep he can’t get half a house at $2.25 a patron, it is obviously to his advantage to allow people to enter for sl.lO. There is no reasonable ground of complaint against that if only the manager openly would admit his state of mind. He won’t do that. Sometimes on dire and distressful evenings the treasurer will let a theater-goer have two tickets for the price of one, but it must be done secretly. This bargain opportunity never will be broadcast. n n m In Demand TT would be sensible for the manager to wait and see just what sort of show he has before fixing the price. Thus, after watching the reactions of the first night audience and reading the reviews, the manager might be justified in announcing, "I find that I have a sls show, and so I am going to charge sls and sell the tickets right here at the box office.” "Or, again, he might say: “‘Nancy’s Dilemma’ seems to be worth about sl.lß, and tickets at that price will go on sale right here in the lobby. It will not be necessary for anybody to go to a drug store to get a bargain.” I will admit that this might not work. The patron who goes to the cut rate shop and buys a ticket marked $2.50 for $1.25 has the thrill of imagining that he is cheating somebody. If he only will stop to think he ought to realize that this hardly can be the case. fCoovrlKht. 1930. by The Tlmea)

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DEC. 11, 1930

SCIENCE —BY DAVID DIETZ—

Scientists Get Christmai Rewards of Medals ami Other Coveted Honors. IT’S the Christmas season in thtf world of science as well as elsewhere. The scientific Santa Claus, In the guise of various societies, foundations and institutions, is handing out his annual award at medals and honors. The Royal Society, Great Britlan’s oldest and most famous scientific society, announces the award of the Darwin nodal to Professor Johannes Schnidt of Copenhagen. Dr. Schmidt spent many years of his life sailing the oceans in a tiny vessel huntirg for the birthplace of the eel. His studies solved a problem several centuries old when he discovered that the eels bred in the Caribbean, from where they made their ways to the rivers of both Europe and America. The Royal Society also announces the award of the Copley medal to Sir William Bragg. Bragg extended the sight of man beyond the microscope by showing how the invisible X-rays might be used to reveal the actual arrangement of the atoms of matter within crystals. The society also awarded the Hughes medal to Sir Chandrasekhar Venkataram Raman, professor of physics in the University of Calcutta, for his work on the diffusion of light. Santa Claus has been particularly nice to Raman this year. A few days ago announcement was made that he had been given the Nobel prize in physics. n a ‘ n Edison Is Honored THE German Association of Inventors has sent a certificate to Thomas A. Edison. The certificate was delivered by Dr. Heinrich Jebens, president of the society, who made the trip to America fan that purpose. The certificate reads, “To the great master o' technical development, the benefactor of humanity, and the outstanding example for tha inventors of the entire world, Mr. Thomas Alva Edison, we herewith tender an honorary membership in the German Association of Inventors.” The Zurich Polytechnic Institute has conferred an honorary doctorate upon Professor Albert Einstein. Medals and honors have been sd many for Enstein that one might think It was an old story to him. But the chances are that he prized this doctorate very highly, because he once was a student and later a teacher at the university. Honors afj home are perhaps the most enjoyable. The University of Berlin at the! same time conferred an honorary dqctorate upon Professor A. E. Love of the University of Oxford. The occasion was the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the institute. Other recent recipients of honori were Dr. Hans Fischer of Munich, given the Nobel prize in chemistry, arid Dr. Karl Landsteiner of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, New York, given thq Nobel prize in medicine.

m m m Some Promotions THE scientific Santa Claus also) brought some promotions in his bag. Dr. Alan Gregg has been appointed director for the medical science of the Rockefeller Foundatlon. Dr. Gregg joined the Rockefeller Foundation as a field , staff member of the international Health board in 1919. He spent three years in public health work in Brazil. In 1922, he undertook studies of medical education in a number of countries, including Italy, Mexico! and Columbia. Since 1925 he has directed the! work of the foundation in the medlcal sciences in Europe. His head-* quarters have been in Paris. Dr. James Barnes, professor of physics at Bryn Mawr college, had been appointed head physicist at the Benjamin Franklin Memorial an<f Franklin Institute Museum. This memorial and museum now being erected in Philadelphia will be one of America’s important scientific centers. R. V. Wright, managing editor of Railway Age, has been elected presi-* dent of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, one of thf most important of the nation’s eni gineering societies. Vice presidents elected include Dfl, Harvey N. Davis, president of Stevens Institute of Technology; William A. Hanley, engineering director of Eli Lilly Sc Cos. of Indianapolis* and Thomas R. Weymouth, president of the Oklahoma Natural Gas Corporation of Tulsa.

Daily Thought

Ye that love the Lord, hate evil, i Psalm 97:10. So far as any one shuns evil, s4 far he does good.—Swedenborg.